Naruto's Mission

33

As you can see, I've finally managed to complete the cover... LOL. It's about damn time! Especially since I said that I would have it done like a week ago.

For Pain, I want to use the Japanese for his three Deva Path abilities because I like their names more so than the English ones. I'll still write the English names down, though.

The crowd was grim. The mood was dark. The death of Jiraiya had shaken the morale of all the civilians in the Leaf Village. To lose one of their strongest ninja, the Toad Sage, was bound to have that effect. Of course, Sasuke Uchiha had grown up strong and powerful, as did the other Genin. But they all were unable to compare to Jiraiya. The only one capable of it was the newly christened Fox Sage, Naruto, but it was just him against the Akatsuki. The civilians feared for their safety and for the village. All those present wore black clothing. They were all standing silently, watching Lady Tsunade carry a small urn which had Jiraiya's ashes in them to the front. Behind her, followed Danzo, his face expressionless as befitting the mysterious elder. His face did not betray the fact that Jiraiya's spy network was now gone, and that impacted his ROOT organisation quite heavily. They relied on his information to carry out their missions, more often than not. So when a hawk began to circle around the sky, screeching non stop, all eyes, civilian and shinobi turned to look at it immediately. It was a well rehearsed signal. An enemy had entered into range of the detection seal barriers that were set up surrounding Konoha. The civilians felt their hearts jump. Akatsuki... they thought. Worse still, the Fox Sage was away from the village, at Mount Myoboku to honour Jiraiya with the Toads. Tsunade moved forward but stopped when Danzo lay a hand on her shoulder.
"Let me deal with them." Danzo said as he walked off, his ROOT ninja following him.

At the gate, stood seven figures. They were all dressed in the standard Akatsuki attire. Behind them lay the unconscious forms of the two gate keepers. Konan looked behind her at the six others.
"Split up." She said and the one in the middle nodded. The six left immediately, dashing off into separate directions while Konan herself headed off down the main road.

Danzo had barely left the funeral procession when a ROOT ninja jumped down to report. He quickly whispered an order into his ear then turned back. He arrived and stood in front of the Hokage.
"Tsunade, it appears there are 7 Akatsuki in the village. We need to move out now." Danzo said, interrupting Tsunade. Tsunade nodded, scanning the perimeter till she found them.
"Iruka! You and the Genin from the academy lead all the civilians to the safe houses inside the mountain. The academy teachers will need to help them too! Everyone else, gear up and prepare to repel the invasion!" Tsunade shouted, a fierce fire in her voice which stemmed from her desire to seek vengeance against those who had killed Jiraiya. It was Konan who arrived moments after most of the ninja had departed, leaving just Team 7, 8 ,9 and 10 standing with the Hokage, who was telling them where to go. Konan's eyes widened. When they looked at her.
"Get her!" Tsunade yelled. Konan hastily jumped back a step, dodging the fire ball from Sasuke.
"Pain!" She yelled, shifting into her paper form. The Leaf Ninja regrouped and studied her new move. Tsunade recognised her at once.
"YOU!" She yelled. "You are the one Jiraiya spared! Along with two others! To train in ninjutsu! I'll never forgive you for Jiraiya's death!" Tsunade shouted. Konan didn't speak. She recognised Tsunade as well.
"Chidori!" She heard someone shout from behind her and immediately, was impaled by a hand coated in lightning chakra. Konan turned her head, looking into the eyes of the Uchiha as her body simply disbanded into uncountable numbers of paper, reforming in front of them once more. Sasuke frowned and jumped backwards. He formed a tiger hand seal.
"Fire style! Fireball jutsu!" Sasuke drew in chakra and exhaled, the chakra shaping into that for a fireball, the ferocity unmatched. Except for Itachi-kun... Konan thought. Itachi's fireball jutsu was vastly superior to his little brothers. She prepared to move aside when the six paths landed.
"Shinra Tensei (almighty push)." She heard Tendo Pain intone. The Leaf Ninja watched with horror as Sasuke's jutsu simply disappeared.
"Where is Naruto Uzumaki?" He asked. Tsunade stepped forward.
"You will never get him!" Tsunade said. Konan narrowed her eyes. Slowly, more and more Leaf Ninja were arriving. They were losing precious time.
"Nagato." She said warningly. Tendo nodded.
"I can see it." The six paths got into formation, surrounding Konan and the Naraka path.
"Where is Naruto Uzumaki?" Tendo asked once more. Tsunade's fist shook with uncontrollable anger.
"Kill the Akatsuki!" Tsunade ordered. The Leaf Ninja nodded, all of them partly blinded by the death of Jiraiya. Tendo sighed.
"Shinra Tensei!" He shouted, a loud thundering boom echoed across the open space. The dust cleared, and Sasuke was seen standing there, protecting Tsunade and his friends with his susanoo. The other Leaf Ninja weren't so lucky. They had all been blown backwards, most of them still conscious but sporting great injuries, preventing them from actually rejoining the fight. The others were unconscious. Konan took a breath and then jumped into the air, her paper flying around her to form two large wings. She flew upwards, and then stayed there, watching. In her paper form, she could handle anyone, and almost anything thrown at her. The amount of chakra needed to maintain it was minimal anyway. Tendo stepped forward.
"Where is Naruto Uzumaki?" He asked. "As you can see, you are no match for my Rinnegan. Even the Uchiha understands the power in my eyes is far greater than his." Tendo stated, trying to entice one of them to speak out. No one moved, then Gai suddenly gave a war cry. He dashed forward with Lee right next to him.